[UPDATED] Armond Rizzo Attacks Chi Chi LaRue’s Icon Male And Noir Male For Segregating Black And White Performers
Gay porn star Armond Rizzo had an epiphany this afternoon, as he took to Twitter to complain about the segregation of black and white models on director Chi Chi LaRue’s two studios, Noir Male and Icon Male. Rizzo—who has previously performed in Noir Male scenes—wrote, “So we hire white models for Noir Male but not black models for Icon Male? No wonder some POC where [sic] very fucken [sic] upset about Noir Male. I can finally fully understand there [sic] frustration.”
Since its launch in 2018, Noir Male has billed itself as the studio that “showcases black men as they deserve to be seen,” but it regularly features white models (in fact, when the studio launched, a majority of the models on the site were white), as Rizzo correctly pointed out in his tweet. While Chi Chi LaRue couldn’t dispute Rizzo’s claim about Noir, LaRue was quick to push back on the idea that the other studio for which he directs, Icon Male, doesn’t feature black models. LaRue told Rizzo to “check the facts,” and then posted an image of an Icon movie featuring two black models (DeAngelo Jackson and Liam Cyber) while asking Rizzo, “What are you talking about?”
LaRue’s production assistant at Icon/Noir, Nick Fitt, was quick to defend his boss, reminding Rizzo that DeAngelo Jackson has appeared at both Icon and Noir, “and he’s back” (that’s presumably a typo, and he meant to type “black”):
In reference to Jackson, Rizzo then argued “oh wow just one, and that’s enough for you guys lol,” to which Fitt replied, “I didn’t say that it’s enough…do not come for me please.”
Rizzo’s tweets about the Noir/Icon segregation repeat the same points already made by performer Jacen Zhu over a year ago, when he compared the casting issues at the two studios:
Indeed, since LaRue is directing for both Noir and Icon (both studios are part of the straight porn conglomerate Mile High Media, which is owned by a straight white man in Canada named Jon Blitt), it’s never made sense to me why one studio features predominantly white men while the other studio features predominantly black men—unless Blitt and LaRue are trying to subtly fetishize models based on their skin color?
LaRue has had a lengthy history with more blatant fetishization, as he was the director and producer of the long-running “Blackballed” series, released by now defunct studios Channel One Releasing and All Worlds. Each part of the 8-part series featured a different white man being gangbanged by several men of color, and here were some of the box covers (part 7, the most racially insensitive installment in the series, took place in a prison and was titled “Jail Slammed”):
The “Blackballed” series is obviously from a different era (the final installment was released in 2012), when such fetishization in gay porn was not only tolerated, but actually celebrated by the industry (“Blackballed” won multiple industry awards). Today, it wouldn’t fly in mainstream gay porn, and LaRue has moved onto “showcasing black men as they deserve to be seen” on Noir Male. And sometimes Icon Male.
Given that Noir and Icon have the same white owner, the same white director, and the same sets and crews, why not just have one studio where everyone works together, instead of letting the white owner and white director separate people based on their skin color? Or, if you’re truly sincere about “showcasing black men,” why not make Noir Male 100% black men? Stop throwing in white guys here and there to try and feed on antiquated interracial fetishes, or to try and appease your racist viewers.
Also? Imagine being a white person running a studio called Noir Male and having the gall to make any of these kinds of decisions?
UPDATE:
Armond Rizzo is now calling himself the “Kaepernick of porn” for claiming to have “been speaking up for years” about racial inequality issues in the porn industry:
As most know, Colin Kaepernick is a civil rights activist and former NFL player who kneeled during the national anthem at football games to protest police brutality and racial inequality.
Armond Rizzo, meanwhile, may have spoken up about Noir Male, uhhh, yesterday, but less than one year ago, he was vociferously defending the studio, as seen in the tweet below. Is this what he considers “speaking up for years”?
